In 202 when schools closed down due to the COVID-19 pandemic my youngest son’s preschool stayed open, but my older son who was in first grade at the time went remote learning. The school did a great job adapting as best they could but he was done with his assignments in a short time each morning. After a lot of consideration my wife and I decided to bring him to work with us and let him start to learn and get some life lessons.
He absolutely loved getting to be at “work” and the team at Automated Drive Systems was so patient and supportive towards him. He got to help out with cleaning, fetching tools or parts for builds, be part of our shop meetings, learned how to cut and strip wires, basics of electricity and control system components and actually help contribute and assist in seeing things built from parts to a finished product. He was so proud of his learning and getting a sense of belonging in a time when many kids felt lonely and disconnected.
Start them young, your kids are smarter than you think, more mature than you think and they really can do it with the right supervision. Some of my best memories as a young kid were hanging around my Dad’s businesses.
-Brenden